The Tram shed

Within walking distance (500m) of Museum De Proefkolonie you will find the historic tram shed (1920). At the time, the location was an important part of the Steenwijk - Oosterwolde tram line (NTM: 1913 - 1963). During this half-century, the tramline formed an essential part of the logistical and social connection of the outlying Drents-Friesian border area and of the colony villages Frederiksoord and Wilhelminaoord. The tramway also provided an essential link to the reed-felt village of Noordwolde.

The tram shed served as the administration office for the NTM and was instrumental in transporting people and goods to and from the Colonies.

From its establishment in 1818, colonists of the Colonies of Weldadigheid lived in planned isolation from the rest of society. The purpose behind this was to re-educate them in a controlled manner. Leaving the Colonies without permission was prohibited; there were their own shops and colony fees, schools and workshops. By the mid-nineteenth century, the last contact with surrounding villages fell away with the construction of their own colony churches. The Colonies tried to live entirely self-sufficiently, although in practice outside help was still often needed and colonists travelled more often than was strictly allowed. Only from the construction of the tram line in 1913 did this insularity end and contact with the outside world became more normal again. With the advent of motorised freight transport and automobiles in the 1960s, the curtain fell on the tramway and the colony villages, which had already been administratively normalised a few decades earlier, entered the "ordinary world.

The exhibition 'Return Society | Mobility in the Colonies of Weldadigheid' provides insight into the difficulties of transporting thousands of settlers to and from the Colonies in an era of dirt roads and hand-dug canals, the role transport and communication innovations played in it, and the implications for social mobility.

To visit the tram shed, tickets are available at the counter of Museum De Proefkolonie.

Small-scale catering facilities are available.